15 April 2008

ARM Joins Synplicity's ReadyIP Program

Industry Leaders Facilitate Easy and Secure Access to ARM Cortex-M1 Processor for FPGA-based Designs

Embedded Systems Conference, San Jose, Calif.,April 15, 2008 — ARM [(LSE:ARM); (NASDAQ:ARMH)] and Synplicity®, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNP), a leading supplier of innovative IC design and verification solutions, today announced the availability of ARM IP  through Synplicity’s ReadyIP Program, also announced today (see related release: Synplicity Launches ReadyIP Program; The Industry's First Universal, Secure IP Flow for FPGA Implementation).  The ReadyIP program facilitates a vendor-independent design flow using Synplicity’s industry standard FPGA synthesis and system design environments, giving designers easy and secure access to the ARM^® Cortex™-M1 field programmable gate array (FPGA) processor for quick evaluation, free of charge.

At the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC), the companies will showcase an ARM Cortex-M1 processor application, based on the AMBA® interconnect, running with peripheral IP from CAST, Inc. that was designed using Synplicity’s FPGA synthesis environment. This flow includes Synplicity’s new System Designer capability that facilitates easy configuration, assembly, and integration of the Cortex-M1 processor and its peripherals.  ESC attendees can visit Synplicity’s booth #2302 to view this demonstration and receive more information about the benefits of the ReadyIP Initiative and the Cortex-M1 processor.

“As designers increasingly turn to third-party IP to implement FPGA-based systems, it is time for industry leaders to step up with a solution that provides easier and more efficient access to the IP options available today,” said Graham Budd, EVP and general manager, Processor Division, ARM. “We have been working with Synplicity for some time now, and there is obvious synergy between having a vendor independent synthesis tool and vendor independent IP to go into it.  We are able to help move this effort forward by providing the Cortex-M1 processor in the Synplicity ReadyIP encrypted flow thereby, improving the design process with IP that universally targets multiple FPGA devices."

“Having strong support from industry leader ARM validates the ReadyIP solution and gives customers many benefits including easy evaluation of the company’s IP before entering into licensing arrangements, significant improvement in design productivity, and industry standards to create internal IP-based design reuse practices,” said Joe Gianelli,  vice president of business development and strategic alliances, Synplicity.  

About Cortex-M1
The ARM Cortex-M1 processor is the first ARM processor designed specifically for implementation as a soft core in FPGAs. The Cortex-M1 processor targets all major FPGA devices and includes support for leading FPGA synthesis tools, allowing the designer to choose the optimal implementation for each project.

The processor implements the popular, high density 16-bit Thumb® instruction set. This enables both the processor and software footprint to meet the area budget of the smallest FPGA devices, while retaining compatibility with Thumb code for any ARM processor from the ARM7TDMI® processor upwards. Despite being the smallest processor in the Cortex family, the Cortex-M1 processor can deliver 0.8 DMIPS/MHz.

About ARM
ARM designs the technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes 16/32-bit RISC microprocessors, data engines, graphics processors, digital libraries, embedded memories, peripherals, software and development tools, as well as analog functions and high-speed connectivity products. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.

About Synplicity
Synplicity®, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNP) is a leading supplier of innovative IC design and verification solutions that serve a wide range of communications, military/aerospace, semiconductor, consumer, computer, and other electronic applications markets. Synplicity's FPGA implementation tools provide outstanding performance, cost and time-to-market benefits by simplifying, improving and automating logic synthesis, physical synthesis, analysis and debug for programmable logic designs. Synplicity's ESL synthesis solutions significantly improve productivity for DSP designs realized in ASIC and FPGA devices. The Confirma™  at-speed verification platform, comprising software tools and the HAPS™ family of prototyping systems, enables both comprehensive verification of ASIC, ASSP and SoC designs and software development prior to chip tapeout. Synplicity is the number one supplier of FPGA synthesis tools and its physical synthesis and ASIC verification technologies are the recipients of several prestigious industry awards. The company operates in more than 20 facilities worldwide and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California . For more information visit http://www.synplicity.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding the benefits of the ReadyIP program. In some cases, you will be able to identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “can,” “believes” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements and changing technical requirements and customer demands in the FPGA and ASIC markets. For additional information and considerations regarding the risks faced by Synplicity, see its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other periodic reports filed with the SEC from time to time. Although Synplicity believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, Synplicity cannot guarantee the future performance or achievements of its software. In addition, neither Synplicity nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of these forward-looking statements. Synplicity disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.

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ARM, AMBA and ARM7TDMI are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. Cortex is a trademark of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. “ARM” is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries: ARM, Inc.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan Limited; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS Design Automation Inc.; ARM Germany GmbH; ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; and ARM Norway, AS.

Synplicity, Synplify and Synplify Pro are registered trademarks of Synplicity, Inc.  System Designer, HAPS and Confirma, are trademarks of Synplicity Inc.  All other names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.